


Thank You

by bellarkeark



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rickyl, Set during season 3, Sorry to disappoint, also there's no sex in this so if that's what you came for, daryl helps him cope, post-lori's death, rick's very depressed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 10:09:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3688257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellarkeark/pseuds/bellarkeark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl tries to help Rick get through the pain of Lori's death. Everyone knows Rick is nearly impossible to heal, but Daryl is persistent. He won't let Rick slip away from him. Rick sees that and is scared at first, but learns to appreciate it. (and by appreciate I mean *cough*)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thank You

**Author's Note:**

> so i know this doesn't exactly fit the show's timeline but it's just for the sake of the fic hah. also rick is a tad bit worse than it shows him on the show. sorry ily

-The Day Of

"Where's Rick?" Daryl asked as he put his crossbow down on the metal table.

"Out," Hershel responded with a sigh.

"Out? Like, in the yard or outside the fence?"

"I don't know. He didn't say," Hershel's blue eyes stared at him wearily.

"He needs to be alone for now," Carol said with a small voice, "He'll be okay, Daryl," she tried with a hesitant smile.

Daryl snorted. He looked at Carol in a way that clearly said he didn't believe her.

"He ain't ever gonna be okay after this."

 

-One Day After

Daryl grabbed his crossbow and walked outside in the yard. He stared, disgusted, at the few walkers roaming around behind the fence.

He forced himself to look away, trying to catch sight of Rick. He looked up and saw him inside one of the guard towers, and decided to go and try to talk to him.

He quickly climbed the stairs up to the top, his beloved crossbow swinging slightly at his side with every movement of his arms.

"Rick?" he asked as reached the top.

Rick was on the floor, his knees drawn up close to his body, his arms crossed on top of them, his head resting on his arms.

Daryl sighed and knelt down in front of him. He tentatively laid his hand on Rick's shoulder, in some form of reassurance.

"How you holdin' up?" he tried.

No response. No movement, even, to show he'd recognized his presence.

"Did ya get any sleep last night?" he whispered. Still, nothing, "You should come in, man, rest a bit."

Daryl waited for a few minutes, but Rick had barely even moved at all.

He left.

 

-Three Days After

"He still ain't come back in yet?"

"No," Maggie sighed, "I was just going to take him something to eat."

"Lemme do it," Daryl said as he extended his hand, taking the can of soup from Maggie.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I got it."

~~~

"Hey, brother. Brought you som'n to eat," Daryl attempted a smile.

Just as before, Rick didn't move.

"C'mon," Daryl said as he lifted Rick's chin up, "open wide."

Rick reluctantly spread his -worryingly dry, Daryl noticed- lips open just a bit, enough for the spoonful of warm soup to get in his mouth.

"Atta boy," Daryl said, earning him a weak, barely-there smile.

The fact that he had gotten a smile out of Rick after all that had happened made Daryl feel oddly proud and happy.

He decided he liked the feeling of seeing Rick smile because of him.

He thought, "I wanna make this man smile again."

 

-One Week After

With all of their attempts, -Daryl's attempts- Rick still hadn't left the solitary of the guard tower.

He had, however, started talking a bit, mostly because of Daryl's persistence, but Rick didn't like to think about that.

For some reason, Rick felt as if he wasn't worthy of being cared for anymore. He felt as if he had failed in loving Lori back, and he feared he'd do the same with anyone else who tried to care for him.

He didn't want that to happen with Daryl. He didn't want to let Daryl down, have his love gone unreciprocated.

(Though he did care for Daryl. But then again, he had cared for Lori once too.)

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps, and the head of his favorite redneck popping up on top of the stairs.

"Hey," Rick managed to get out, his voice raspy and his throat dry.

"Here," Daryl extended a bottle of water towards him, which Rick gratefully took and gulped down to a half.

"So," Daryl started, staring down at Rick with his hands resting on his hips, "when d'ya plan on coming back?"

"I- I don't know," Rick sighed heavily, the air feeling like it was burning his lungs as it left his body.

"God dammit, Rick!" Daryl snapped, "We can't take this bullshit anymore. None of us can. Carl's broken, man. He shot his own mother," Rick winced, "He's just a kid, Rick. He shouldn't 'ave to go through this alone. He needs his father. He needs you."

Rick looked up at Daryl, his eyes quickly filling with tears threatening to fall. He opened his mouth but couldn't get any sound out. He shook his head, looked away, and heard Daryl sigh.

"I need you, Rick," Daryl whispered as he turned around, ready to leave.

Rick pretended he didn't hear him.

 

-Ten Days After

Soon after Daryl's "outburst" Rick had finally gotten back inside their cell block, and Daryl had done what he could to help him recover as well and healthily as possible.

To his good luck, Rick was actually getting back to normal again. Somehow.

Rick saw Lori. Her ghost, a hallucination. He had only told Daryl about that, not wanting to seem like he had completely lost his mind to everyone else.

He trusted Daryl, which, given the circumstances, shouldn't be making Daryl as happy as it did. He had much more important things to worry about.

Rick also had recurring nightmares, and Daryl always made sure to be there to help him get through them. He had even insisted they slept in the same cell.

Daryl had only just fallen asleep when Rick started screaming. He jolted up and jumped down from his upper bunk, kneeling down in front of Rick.

"Hey, Rick, wake up," he whispered, gently shaking his shoulder.

Rick's face was contorted with fear. It made Daryl's heart feel like it was falling to his feet; he hated seeing Rick like this.

"Rick?" he rose his voice a little, shaking him a bit harder.

Rick's eyes finally flew open and focused on Daryl's face, fear slipping away from them and being replaced by relief.

"Hey, you're okay, I'm here," he smiled.

"Yeah, I know. Thank you," Rick said as he placed his hand over Daryl's.

Daryl's stomach flipped. How the hell was he getting these feelings? You'd have thought after all these years of being alive he'd have gotten used to his hand touching another person's.

"Anytime," Daryl whispered, smiling as his eyes met Rick's.

Then Rick did something Daryl never would've thought he'd do: he lifted his hand and started trailing his pointer finger across Daryl's jaw, then softly over his lips, letting it linger there.

Daryl's heart was beating like crazy and he was almost one hundred percent sure that, in the still silence of the prison, it could be heard as if amplified.

"I just feel like I don't thank you enough," Rick's voice was was barely a whisper.

"'S okay, ya don't have to."

"I do, though," he said, as he brought his face closer to Daryl's, and kissed him.

 

 


End file.
